Meet Gonzaga’s New Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence: Duy Dang

This fall, Gonzaga University is going to experience something it hasn’t for about 65 years — a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence.

The Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence program is an initiative by U.S. higher education to increase international communication on college campuses. If approved, institutions host an international scholar for one or two semesters. During their time on campus, scholars teach classes, strengthen international partnerships and participate in the larger campus and local communities. The last Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence Gonzaga had was a professor from France in the 1960s.

Fast forward to fall of 2024, when Duy Dang of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) Vietnam is coming to Gonzaga. Dang is a senior lecturer and senior program manager for the PhD programs in RMIT’s business school. His research and teaching focus on applied analytics, digital transformation and information security management.

While at Gonzaga, Dang will teach undergraduate and graduate classes focusing on topics such as data science, information system management and information system governance.

The process of bringing Dang to Gonzaga started a few years ago with an email to Tim Olsen, professor of information systems, about the Scholar-in-Residence program, which was something he had never heard of at the time. After some research, Olsen learned that the program would allow him to invite anyone from across the globe to come teach at Gonzaga, something that he realized could be an invaluable experience for Gonzaga’s students.

“If I can invite anyone in the world to come here, who would I want to invite? The next question was, what country does Gonzaga want a better relationship with?” says Olsen, outlining his thought process.

Olsen has been to China several times and viewed Vietnam as “the next China” due to its rapid development, with many companies moving from China to Vietnam during COVID. He asked a colleague if he knew of any professors in Vietnam who might be a good fit for Gonzaga. Dang was recommended due to his experience in analytics and big data.

To Dang, the idea was a surprise.

“One day I received an email from Dr. Olsen, and he asked me if I would like to put forward an application together with him...I look at Dr. Olsen’s university, which is Gonzaga, and I look at Spokane, and everything looks very beautiful to me...and so I just [said], go ahead,” Dang says.

Olsen and Dang then applied for the program together, with the benefit of knowing the scholar that Gonzaga wanted to come teach — it's also an option to apply for the program and have Fulbright choose a scholar for you — and their application was chosen.

The Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence program fits well with Gonzaga’s mission of global engagement.

“We can teach books and cases the involve other countries,” Olsen says, but “the best way to be a more globalized as a campus is to invite someone from another country to come here and interact with us and teach us.”

While here, Dang plans to meet with various groups on campus outside of his classes, such as the Vietnamese Student Association and Center for Teaching and Advising, and in the greater Spokane area with groups such as the Spokane Library, Greater Spokane Inc. and the Rotary Club. Dang plans to present on topics ranging from his home country to digital literacy and cybersecurity awareness to digital marketing for local businesses. He will also participate in campus events such as International Education Week

“I’m very excited, especially, to visit the Vietnam Student Associate in Gonzaga,” Dang says. “I heard that it is a very active and very strong community of Vietnamese students there.”

Olsen emphasizes the fact that Dang will only be at Gonzaga for a semester, so students should take advantage of learning from Dang and about Vietnam. International connections, Dang points out, make for more opportunities.

“Who knows, in the future maybe we can have an exchange program for Vietnam students to go to Gonzaga, for example, or maybe an exchange program for Gonzaga students to visit Vietnam,” Dang says.